Tell me your late-latching newborn success stories

[Nosy]

DS3 is 6 days old & is latching maybe 3-4 times a day. He'll put the nipple in his mouth, but won't suck. I've gotten him to suck maybe 10 times total. We're finger feeding him, and he sucks our finger well. We're doing skin to skin, have tried putting the top of my nipple in his mouth, tried the baby crawl to the breast at about 4 days (but it didn't work maybe I didn't do it correctly). We had a late start because he couldn't latch at all for the first 2 days (had a tongue tie that we got clipped). He doesn't like the nipple shield. I've met with one LC & have plans to meet with another one who is supposedly better.

I know it's still possible, and after having nursed 2 children for an extended period I can't imagine not nursing (& just pumping). Looking for encouragement!

[PatioGardener]

My good friend's newborn went 8 days with NO latch at all - only fingerfeeding. He had a recessed chin and bad jaundice (readmitted) and was so very sleepy. They went on to nurse exclusively for 6 whole months and another 3 after that until she decided to wean.

She did lots of skin-to-skin time and worked with 2 different LCs on the latch. It took lots of hard work - but they succeeded.

Keep at it Mama - it takes a while to learn but you can do it. Getting good help is key - good luckw ith your next LC.

Try the breastcrawl again if you feel like it - sometimes it takes several goes and a baby in the right mood

[solejean]

Hi - when my son was born I had inverted nipples, an unexpected C-section and let the nurses convince me he was starving so they gave him a bottle. Well you guess what happened after that - he did not want to even try to nurse. But after a month of working really hard at it he got the hang of it and now it's been over a year. So it can be done. Good luck to you and stay positive - I know how hard it is.

[sarahr]

When my dd was born, she had what they called "immature suck" -- I'd stick something -- nipple, finger, whatever -- in her mouth and she wouldn't suck on it at all. It took a month of pumping and finger/syringe feeding before she grew enough that we were able to get her on the breast. We used a nipple shield for some time after that, then just bare.

My biggest advice would be to be gentle to yourself. We ended up doing syringe feeds during the day and bottle feeds at night because the syringe took so long and I needed sleep. Also, make sure your partner is helping you so that you can pump while the baby is eating.

Do you have a good lactation consultant who can offer personal suggestions? In my case, dd just had to grow and get stronger, but there might be particular things you can do to help.

Also, it hurt like he!! when she finally did latch and suck -- it was the pain that many mamas have when their baby is newborn, but it was one month delayed for me.

We went on to have a wonderful 33 month long nursing relationship, so it can all work out!

[Satori]

dd #1 didn't go to the breast until 8 weeks and was violentally opposed to it thanks to a nurse who give her a formula against my direct orders.

dd #2's case was more extreme, she had no sucking ability until around her 1st birthday. The only reason she got bm orally instead of though a g-tube was because I had such a strong letdown that all she had to do was swallow (all the while milk leaked out of her mouth, feeding was a very messy event!) so she kept growing but she couldn't latch properly to form a seal until after a year, she's now 3 and an avid nurser with a great latch but she didn't learn until a year but I guess we had the advantage that she at least knew milk came out of the boobs.

[Nosy]

Thanks, these stories definitely help. He fell asleep for the first time on the breast yesterday (at 8 days old). He is definitely on the breast more, but still prefers the syringe/finger feed, especially at the beginning of a meal. Now it seems we have thrush so we are dealing with that, too.

[mamadelbosque]

When my first DS was born we stayed in the hospital for 4 days because he just couldn't/wouldn't latch on... At one point we even gave him a little formula (Like 1 oz or something?) just so that there would be SOMETHING in his tummy. It took us weeks for him to really 'get it' and be awake and alert enough to want to nurse. But he did indeed get it eventually!

[boheime]

Dd was almost 6 months old when she was latching on 100% of the time. For the 3 months following, she would only nurse with *me* lieing down. We fought a lot - my low supply, her silent reflux, her latch issues, her sensory issues, etc., finger feeding when she wouldn't latch. However, we finally got there. She nursed until age 4, quitting the LA at age 3.